I am soo happy to see Mao have a clean sp, i was soo worried after hearing she had an injury when she went to sochi, I love her program and she made everything look so easy and natural, something i can't say about ashley program!

ashley score was inflanted in the PCS, goe, and most importantly how did ashley suddenly get level4, both her steps and spins where slow, and her choreography seemed so unconnected to the music! she may have confidence, but that doesn't hide her lacks!

I liked akiko i think she did a great job

I feel so sorry for gao, i really wanted her to have a great sp, hope she will have a better fs tommorow

liza may not have nailed her combo, but she had alot of attack and i like her program, wish her the best in the fs!

Maybe it says something that Kostner had to water down her jumps to be more consistent. That tells me she's not a great skater if she has to do that.

What an unnecessary comment
You must have completely irgnored the fact that she did that because she was injured?
Or that apart from her missing lutz, everthing else she does is of exceptional quality?

Mao's music choice is not a good one for her imo and the choreography seems "off". I would have Ashley slightly ahead of Mao, but the top ones are so close it probably doesn't matter. I love what Ashely does immediately following her jumps. Some beautiful moves showing great control.
Liza did skate with great attack, but she consumes lots of energy with the excessive arm movements and I find them distracting. The arm movements lose their power when there are so many.

You think so? I think Swan Lake is a great choice of music for Mao. It is overdone and quite cliched in the competitive skating community but I love what she did with it, the upper-body movements, the hand gestures, the twizzles - little things that help her sell the program. Mao has a light, effortless air to her and the program really brought out her strengths. Can't believe Tatiana Tarasova choreographed both the Bells of Moscow LP - I hated it - and this year's Swan Lake.

You think so? I think Swan Lake is a great choice of music for Mao. It is overdone and quite cliched in the competitive skating community but I love what she did with it, the upper-body movements, the hand gestures, the twizzles - little things that help her sell the program. Mao has a light, effortless air to her and the program really brought out her strengths. Can't believe Tatiana Tarasova choreographed both the Bells of Moscow LP - I hated it - and this year's Swan Lake.

I don't mind Swan Lake the music itself in general, but I hate what she doesn't do with the music. I feel that there's nothing to her program that's specifically Swan Lake, and I find her SL passionless.

Perhaps I'm very particular since I really really love Swan Lake the ballet, and have seen multiple performances of it.

I don't mind Swan Lake, but I hate what she doesn't do with the music. I feel that there's nothing to her program that's specifically Swan Lake, and I find her SL passionless.

Perhaps I'm very particular since I really really enjoy Swan Lake the ballet, and have seen multiple performances of it.

Well you can't judge a program by what she doesn't do but by what she does. After all, we are talking hours worth of music and dancing condensed to 4 minutes. I think she is using every note of the music, bringing something different after every music cut and Mao has a lyrical, balletic style to begin with. I do concede that Mao somewhat lacked energy at the NHK trophy after making numerous mistakes on her jumps.

Thanks a lot for the video! I think the judges are correct this time and I agree with the ranking. Love Mao, she did a great job with the program although it's not the type of program prefer. Ashley did a great job too and I love her SP. She also skated with attack, even with a couple of small glitches it was still the best I ever see her skated. This SP is a keeper. I don't like her LP, very empty. Kirra didn't skate as well as she did during the last two, but still decent. She was a bit stif this time around, like the old her in the past seasons. Hope she does better in the LP. Congratulations to Akiko for doing all her jumps. Liz, would you please get rid of the black tight, or at list make it see through? Ir looks so heavy that I worried how she would be able to lift herself. Hope Gao does better in theLP.

As much as I love Mao I must say that the scoring at this competition was really unfair. Her triple floop was CLEARLY underrotated and should've received <. Why didn't the technical specialist give her the < sign? On purpose or just overlooked it? Mao should be behind Ashley and Akiko.

They didn't do at COC and NHK, either. Mao's 3F, and even her old friend 3Lo look clearly underrotated these days.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed her skating the most. I thought the music and choreography were juniorish at first, but it suits Mao very well
Ashley was great, but I prefer her LP.
I was worried about Korpi, but she did very well in spite of her injury and stomach flu.
Did Liza gain some weight? I think she was a bit underscored compared to other skaters.